Fidji Simo Joins Data Center Startup Nscale’s Board Ahead of IPO

Nscale Global Holdings appointed former OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc. executive Fidji Simo to its board as the data center startup bolsters its ranks of directors ahead of an initial public offering.

Simo’s appointment, announced Friday, follows the addition of other Meta veterans, Sheryl Sandberg and Nick Clegg, to its board earlier this year. Simo was also previously chief executive officer of Instacart, seeing the delivery startup through its own IPO in 2023.

Nscale CEO Josh Payne has attracted high-profile investors and clients in its first two years as tech companies rush to secure enough computing capacity to train and deploy their AI models.

Nscale won a commitment from Claude-maker Anthropic PBC to spend $45 billion in computing capacity and is developing a large campus in Norway set to provide service for Microsoft Corp.

Simo stepped down from her role overseeing much of OpenAI’s core business in July following a three-month medical leave due to an ongoing neuroimmune condition.

Nscale is raising additional funding to build out infrastructure, including from Nvidia Corp., which invested billions in the industry to drive demand for its chips. The company may hold its IPO as soon as this month.

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Shares of Nscale’s rivals have been volatile in recent months, as investors question the pace of spending on AI infrastructure. CoreWeave Inc. is trading at more than double its $40 IPO price. Nebius Group NV, an Amsterdam-based cloud provider listed in the US, have more than doubled this year.